The intensive eight-month program is designed to prepare students for in-demand careers in risk management and trading.
“The next generation of business graduates must be ‘risk savvy’ and clearly see its importance to the success of the business and their own performance,” said Rotman Professor Rose Patten, who is also special advisor to the CEO of BMO Financial Group, the Canadian bank.
Professor Susan Christoffersen, vice dean, said such skills are “in demand”.
The Master of Financial Risk Management will see industry veterans involved in the program, including Richard Nesbitt, CEO of the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services and former COO of the bank CIBC, and Tiff Macklem, former senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada.
A PwC survey of 2,000 business executives last year found that risks are rising across industries, with 75% reporting increased risks to their business.
Appetite for full-time managers to ease the burden of risk is increasing, say experts.
“There has been a great demand for risk professionals over the last few years,” said Dr Konstantina Kappou, program director for the MSc Financial Risk Management at Henley Business School in the UK.
For banks in particular, the global financial crisis led to dramatic and ongoing changes in risk management.
“Since 2008, the demand for risk management professionals has seen no let-up,” said Paul Schoonenberg, head of MBA careers at Aston Business School.
The passage of the Dodd-Frank bill in the US, and the issuance of the global Basel III regulatory framework, have shaken up requirements for the financial services industry.
“With the increase of regulatory requirements, companies have had to strengthen their risk teams and departments,” said Marie Kratz, director of the CREAR Risk Research Centre at France’s ESSEC Business School.
Jennifer Windus, senior career consultant for finance at George Washington University’s business school, said that outside of the financial services sector, government, technology, and telecommunications industries are all hiring risk managers.
“As are management consulting firms that have risk management and cyber security practices or clients,” she added.
The first classes for Rotman's Master of Financial Risk Management will begin in September 2016.
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